Macromarketing,the Indispensable Discipline

Abstract

The guest-editors introduce the Ruby Anniversary Issue of the Journal of Macromarketing. They provide an overview of the field, highlight the evolution and contributions of the Journal over the past 40 years, and share synopses of the articles and commentaries that comprise this special issue. Major themes addressed by contributors include the genesis and stages of the marketing field, including its origins in macromarketing and the various forces that necessitate a redoubled emphasis on macromarketing, today and in the future. All contributors explore fundamental issues pertaining to the interactions among markets, marketing and society. Some focus on particular periods; some examine timeless and timely subthemes, such as marketing systems, sustainability, globalization, societal well-being, marketing ethics and social justice, and marketing history. And some focus on the expanding reach, impact, perspective, and topics of macromarketing – the discipline’s capabilities to influence business, policy and consumption, to redress current and historical shortcomings and transgressions, and to help solve the most pressing challenges confronting humanity. Moving forward, those challenges also create opportunities. The type and systemic complexity of those challenges/opportunities, and the ubiquity of markets and marketing, make macromarketing indispensable to the sustainability of our world, and the well-being of its inhabitants.